The Madras High Court on Thursday, October 30, directed the Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University to permit a student with 40% disability due to schizophrenia to appear for the odd semester exams in November, without insisting on payment of tuition and special fees, for which he is legally eligible for exemption.

The interim relief was granted to the student pursuing LLB Honours in the School of Excellence, TN Dr Ambedkar Law University, by Justice N Anand Venkatesh on an urgent petition moved by him.

Court’s directive on examinations

“For the present, this court is inclined to permit the petitioner to write the examinations commencing from November 3. It is made clear that this interim direction will not ensure any right on the petitioner to seek for the reliefs that have been sought for in the writ petition. The answer papers shall be kept in a sealed cover by the respondent university, until further orders are passed in this writ petition,” the judge said in the order.

Background of fee exemption denial

The student had applied for fee exemption earlier, but his request was rejected on the grounds that the degree of disability was 10%, whereas exemption can be provided for those with a 40% disability.

After his disability was found to be 40% due to mental illness, he again approached the authorities for fee exemption, but was again denied, this time on the ground that he was admitted under the BC quota, Senior counsel Abudu Kumar Rajaratnam assisted by Rajagopal Vasudevan, appearing as a Legal Aid counsel, told the court.

The counsel submitted that it is a grave infringement of the student’s fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution and a violation of the principles of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. He also pointed out that the prospectus of the university states that students with disabilities are fully exempt from paying tuition and special fees upon producing valid certificates from the competent authority.